Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2018

STAR TREK DISCOVERY Hired Fact Checkers and Superfans to Ensure Canon Adherence

The new Star Trek series Discovery is only a few months away from launching, and many longtime Trekkers have been worried that this prequel show might not adhere to the fifty plus years of continuity already established. After all—based on the trailers so far—the show, which is set a decade before the five year mission of Captain Kirk and Mister Spock on the Enterprise, looks very different aesthetically to anything in the classic series. Will CBS make sure that there are no major continuity contradictions to established Trek canon?

It appears so, as according to a report over at CNET, Star Trek Discovery producer Alex Kurtzman (who co-wrote the first two J.J. Abrams Star Trek films) said they actually hired a few Trek fact-checkers (and some superfan writers!) for the writers’ room to make sure that every storyline and episode idea does not  step on the toes of established facts and stories within the canon of the Star Trek universe. No easy task, as we are talking about five live action series and some 700 episodes of television. You can read an excerpt from Kurtzman’s comments below:

“Without spoiling anything we are adhering to a timeline and sticking to the rules, but also I think finding some new areas and avenues that have only been alluded to, but never fully explored.”

“You have to respect canon as it’s being written. You can’t say, ‘That never happened.’ No, no no, you can’t do that, they would kill you. Star Trek fans would kill you. No, you have to respect canon. You have to understand the timelines and what the different timelines were and what the different universes were and how they all worked together. You have to keep very meticulous track of who, what, where, when and why. And we have people in the writer’s room whose sole job is to say, ‘Nope, can’t do that!'”

These comments are interesting, because—based on the trailers—we have a group of Klingons who look totally different from anything we’ve ever seen before in original Trek, and uniforms that contradict the look of the Starfleet uniforms used in the original series episode “The Cage,” which also took place ten years before Kirk and Spock.

Some things obviously are just going to be somewhat different, due to advances in special effects, but based on what we’ve seen, this all looks much more like the J.J. Abrams’ “alternate timeline” of the recent films than anything in the original series. Here’s hoping the writers on Discovery can somehow make this all work.

Star Trek: Discovery premieres September 24 on CBS, and the series will run exclusively on the network’s CBS All Access streaming service.

Are you excited for this latest addition to the long running Trek mythology? And how well do you think it will adhere to established canon? Let us know down below in the comments.

Images: CBS 

Elongated Man to Join THE FLASH in Season Four

He’s  a long standing DC Comics hero who has never had a live-action incarnation before, but it looks like that’s about to change, as The Hashtag Show has revealed that Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, is joining The Flash on the upcoming fourth season of the show.

The casting breakdown for the part of Elongated Man that’s rather interesting is the mention that whoever ends up playing Ralph would have a series regular option for Season 5. Below is the description for the television version of Elongated Man.

“[RALPH DIBNY AKA ELONGATED MAN] Male, Mid to late 30s, Open Ethnicity. Think Ryan Reynolds or Chris Pratt, Ralph has the ability to stretch his body to super-human lengths and sizes…however, while resculpting his old body is easy to do, Dibny finds losing the old misguided sense of truth and slobbery, even after joining the team at S.T.A.R. Labs, is a far more difficult task to accomplish. MAJOR RECURRING GUEST STAR WITH A SERIES REGULAR OPTION FOR NEXT SEASON”

Elongated Man has been name dropped before, way back in season one of The Flash, as one of the people said to have gained powers in the particle accelerator explosion that gave Barry Allen his powers. But it’s taken this long for that little hint to pay off into something bigger. The Elongated Man has a long standing history with the Flash character and titles, as he first appeared in The Flash #112 in May of 1960, and soon became a recurring character and ally of the Scarlet Speedster.

The Flash comics editors wanted a new supporting hero for Barry to play off of, and the idea was to have an elastic hero like Plastic Man. The funny thing is, DC had the rights to Plastic Man already, who originated at another publisher, but the editor of Flash didn’t know that, and Elongated Man was born. In the comics, Ralph Dibny wanted to be a  contortionist, and developed a super-concentrated extract of the rare “gingo” fruit that was said to give contortionists their remarkable elasticity. It’s a very silly, Silver Age origin story, and I’d bet the producers of the Flash TV series will totally rework it.

For years, Elongated Man was one of the major players in the DCU. He joined the JLA  in 1973, and was the 12th member to join. He was an active member of many versions of the team for the next twenty-five years. One of the cooler things about Ralph was that he was a detective, and loved solving a mystery. He also had no secret identity, and had a super cool wife named Sue who was also a detective. The two of them would travel around the country solving mysteries, a kind of superhero sleuthing couple.

Then the 2004 DC event mini-series Identity Crisis killed of Sue Dibny in a horrible, brutal fashion, sending Ralph spiraling out of control emotionally to the point where he committed suicide to be with his beloved Sue again. A rather dark ending to such a happy-go-lucky character. In the afterlife, he and Sue became “ghost detectives”, but seemingly the New 52 reboot undid their deaths, and both Ralph and Sue are out there somewhere alive in the DCU. Hopefully the arrival of the character on The Flash means his comics counterpart may return soon as well.

In addition, it’s also been officially revealed what The Thinker and his assistant the Mechanic will also be the main villains for The Flash season 4 on the CW, as previously reported. The season premiere of The Flash will debut on Tuesday, October 10.

Are you excited for the long standing DC hero to finally debut in live-action? Let us know down below in the comments.

Images: DC Comics

X-FILES Comic to Tackle the JFK Assassination

The X-Files has tackled every conspiracy theory under the sun over the nearly 25 years that the show has been around, everything from Roswell to Bigfoot to you name it. But one of the most famous American conspiracy theories that series creator Chris Carter has thus far mostly stayed away from (at least in any great detail) is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy back in 1963. But that’s about to change.

According to the folks at io9, publisher IDW Comics is coming out with X-Files: JFK Disclosure, a two-part special written by Denton J. Tipton, with art by Menton3. The special will draw its own weird conclusions on the JFK case, and will place Fox Mulder himself into the middle of the “real truth” behind Kennedy’s death, which will apparently cover up another assassination, that of Mulder’s father, Bill. You can check out the covers to the X-Files: JFK Disclosure down below.

The reason for the release of this series right now? JFK Disclosure is being released to tie-into the public release of the final batch of sealed government files related to Kennedy’s death which are due this October. Series writer Denton Tipton said in a statement “Though more than 50 years have passed, the JFK assassination continues to be a popular topic of conversation among all walks of life. Now the most popular FBI agents of all time will dive headlong into the greatest conspiracy of the 20th century, just as new facts are about to come to light in the real world. That is unless they are suppressed once again.”

The X-Files: JFK Disclosure is set to hit comic book shops on October 25, a day before the 25-year statute on the 1992 JFK Records Act, which demanded all files related to Kennedy’s assassination be made public within 25 years, is set to come to an end.

Are you stoked to see X-Files finally tackle the conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories? Be sure to let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: IDW Comics / Twentieth Century Fox

Godzilla’s Secret History Reveals a New Horde of Monsters!

Kong may be King of Skull Island, but Godzilla is still the King of the Monsters! Before the inevitable cinematic rematch between Godzilla and King Kong hits theaters in 2020, Big G is getting his own cinematic sequel in 2019, with the release of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. While we can probably expect a nod to Kong in that film, Godzilla is going to have his hands full with his next opponents on the big screen. Today’s Nerdist News is opening the vaults of Monarch and exploring the classic creatures coming to the Monsterverse!

Join host and Monarch’s resident cryptozoologist, Jessica Chobot, as she walks us through the hidden history of the Monsterverse. Ahead of next week’s Blu-ray and DVD release of Kong: Skull Island, the film’s official twitter account dropped a video that reveals several major incidents that occurred between the 1973 expedition to Skull Island and the events of the first Godzilla movie in the new shared universe.

2016: An extraordinary superspecies is discovered beneath the Antarctic ice. #KongSkullIsland pic.twitter.com/4puTeUSH2n

— Kong: Skull Island (@kongskullisland) July 12, 2017

In the immortal words of George Takei: “Oh my.” It seems like there’s a ready made sequel for Kong: Skull Island in there, since the son of Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins) led a new expedition to Skull Island in 2001 that uncovered some additional details about Kong’s origins and purpose. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The video timeline also clearly reveals Godzilla’s next set of opponents and they’re some of our favorite monsters. Get ready for the return of Rodan, Ghidorah, and Mothra!

Which monsters do you want to see Godzilla fight in his next cinematic sequels? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Legendary

Editor’s note: Nerdist Industries is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.

R.L. Stine’s GOOSEBUMPS is Coming Back to Comics

Readers beware, you’re in for a scare! Earlier this year, R.L. Stine made his Marvel Comics debut with a Man-Thing miniseries. But now, Stine’s most famous creation, Goosebumps, is getting new life as a comic book series.

Ahead of San Diego Comic-Con, IDW has revealed that the new Goosebumps comic will launch in October with a storyline called “Monsters at Midnight,” which will be written by Jeremy Lambert and illustrated Chris Fenoglio. We don’t know too much about the story at this point, but the cover image clearly reveals the return of  the most popular Goosebumps monster:  Slappy the Dummy! And this time, Slappy is pulling the strings of his latest victims.

IDW has also revealed that the first story will revisit Horrorland, the sinister theme park introduced in the novels. Two young sisters, Mia and Ginny, discover the entrance to Horrorland in a spooky bookstore. Unfortunately for the girls, getting out alive won’t be as easy as getting into the park. The “Monsters at Midnight” story will run for three issues, before a new creative team comes on board for the next three-part arc. More details are expected to be announced at SDCC, but Derek Charm, Drew Rausch, CP Wilson III, and Cat Farris have been confirmed as future contributors on the comic.

There have actually been Goosebumps comics before, but this anthology represents a unique opportunity to revisit some of the best monsters and settings from the novel. Camp Jellyjam, Camp Cold Lake, and Dead House seem like obvious choices, but we’d also love to see the Werewolf of Fever Swamp, the Haunted Mask, and the evil Lawn Gnomes…because they freak us out!

Which Goosebumps monsters do you want to see again in the comics? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: IDW

Fantastic SHERLOCK, DOCTOR WHO, and ORPHAN BLACK Merch is Coming to SDCC 2017

San Diego Comic Con is a magical time of year. Many of us fans lucky enough to go gather together to celebrate our favorite fandoms, meet some of our most beloved celebs, and hang out with friends from across the country and across the globe. But the other wonderful part of SDCC is the exclusive stuff you can buy at the con. From collectibles to posters to clothes, there is a lot of awesome stuff to spend your money on. At this year’s comic con, the BBC’s booth, #4129, is going to have some excellent merchandise for the Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Orphan Black fans in your life.

For Sherlock fans, you can get your hands on a BBC shop exclusive tee and hoodie.

And Whovians can get their hands on a BBC shop exclusive tee or coffee mug for all of those late nights traveling in the TARDIS:

Of course, if shirts and cups aren’t your thing, they will also be selling a wide variety of collectibles, jewelry, socks, and more. And if you want to be able to sneak in some fandom pride into your everyday wardrobe, you can grab some steampunk Dalek bling, or show your love for your favorite TARDIS-stealing Gallifreyan with some blue box and sonic screwdriver earrings and necklaces.

And for all of you Funko collectors out there, the BBC booth will also be selling Funkos based on your favorite characters from Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Orphan Black. Because really, there is no better place to round out your Funko collection than at San Diego Comic Con, right?

Of course, this is only a small portion of the amazing stuff the BBC shop will have for sale at SDCC. You can check out more of the BBC’s Comic Con merch in the gallery below, and be sure to hit up booth #4129 at comic con this year!

What are you most excited about in the BBC shop? What are some of your traditional comic-con buys? Tell us in the comments!

Image Credits: BBC

The Not-So-Serious Case Against Tyrion Lannister Surviving GAME OF THRONES

“Valar morghulis,” sure, but some people really have it coming. Like Tyrion Lannister.

Game of Thrones‘ wittiest character has entertained us over the years, but being funny doesn’t excuse away your sins, and no highborn noble lord in the Seven Kingdoms revels in his more than he does. Born into a family so rich his DNA is made of gold, he’s used his enormous advantages to make the world a better place for the common people. Kidding. No, he mostly used his wealth to visit every brothel and tavern in Westeros.

Fond of power (but not the rule of law), Tyrion has never actually succeeded in the role, despite what he would like you to believe. This, of course, wouldn’t matter so much if Daenerys hadn’t just named him Hand of the Queen. But since she and her dragons are the only hope the living have of defeating the dead, Tyrion’s drunken, wildcard antics remain a serious threat to the realm, despite his recent “moral redemption.”

HE CORRUPTED POD

It’s one thing for him to be such a vile man, one with a penchant for telling inappropriate stories and jokes, but to introduce sweet, innocent Pod to his vices is unforgivable. Think about all the times he made Pod drink past any reasonable consumption. And that’s nothing compared to him introducing his young squire to the basest pleasures of the flesh at Baelish’s brothels, where we still don’t know what took place. What kind of devious did things did that young man experience there? Not to mention Pod isn’t even married!

NO RESPECT FOR THE LAW

Oh, he thought the rule of law was just dandy when it worked out in his favor in the Vale, when Bronn was his victorious champion during a Trial by Combat. But when his next trial took place, for poisoning Joffrey, all he did was whine and whine about how unfair it was. Then, after his brother Jaime nobly caved to their father’s demands, sacrificing his own happiness to save Tyrion, he rewarded Jaime’s sacrifice by demanding another Trial by Combat. But when he lost that fair and square did he accept the results? No, he didn’t; he fled. Sure, he was technically “innocent,” but a noble man would have accepted the trial’s findings with dignity. Instead Tyrion might have ruined his entire family.

KILLED HIS FATHER/POSSIBLY RUINED HOUSE LANNISTER

Kin-slaying/Kingslaying is strongly frowned upon in Westeros. Most folks consider it way out of bounds. But lawbreaking Tyrion still went ahead and put two arrows into his father Tywin (after killing Shae, who he had so cold heartedly sent away, don’t forget). He then fled to Essos, leaving House Lannister in the totally incapable hands of his sister Cersei. It took her about three days to screw everything up, leading to total ruin for her most important ally House Tyrell, and now she and Jaime are besieged by enemies on all sides. Great work, Tyrion.

HE’S BAD AT RULING

Tyrion likes to claim that as Hand of the King he saved King’s Landing from Stannis, but he was rescued by the unexpected arrival of the combined forces of his father and the Tyrells. His little parlor trick with the wildfire just slowed Stannis down, it didn’t stop him. Tyrion’s boast about what he did at the Battle of Blackwater is equivalent to the popcorn vendor taking credit for the Golden State Warrior’s winning the NBA championship.

But surely his next chance to rule an ancient city went better, right? If you count making a deal with the least trustworthy people in the world to allow slavery to come back for seven years a success, then yes, absolutely. While Daenerys was away uniting every khalasar in the world, Tyrion was busy getting Meereen attacked, a major screwup he was only bailed out of because of the nice lady with the dragons.

The stakes are even bigger now as she heads to Westeros, where the White Walkers are waiting. It will be a lot easier for her to defeat them if Tyrion isn’t around to binge-chug wine and try to negotiate a seven year phase out of turning babies into ice demons.

But what do you think? Is this a halfman-baked idea? Or is Tyrion a rule-breaking lush who deserves to answer for his crimes? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Images: HBO

The Latest FULL METAL ALCHEMIST Trailer is Full of Lust, Gluttony, and Envy

Adapting an anime to live action is a risky proposition. It requires a delicate alchemy that can either lead to successes like Rurouni Kenshin, acceptable simulacra like Ghost in the Shell, or nightmarish abominations like Dragonball Evolution. Naturally, when it was announced that Warner Bros. was making a live action version of the critically acclaimed, mega-popular anime and manga series Fullmetal Alchemist, fans were worried that the end result would be sadder than Nina Tucker. Thankfully, it seems that Warner Bros. spent an arm and a leg on this film, and the new trailer for the anime adaptation not only gives us a look at the titular alchemist Edward Elric (Ryosuke Yamada) and his armor-clad brother Alphonse, but also our first look at three of the film’s terrifying villains, the Homunculi– Lust (Yasuko Matsuyuki), Envy (Kanata Hongō), and Gluttony (Shinji Uchiyama)–who look like they’ve been ripped straight from the pages of the original manga. And if there’s one thing that we know anime/manga fans love more than anything, it’s remaining faithful to the source material.

In addition to these menacing new villains, anime and manga fans will be pleased to see familiar faces like Roy Mustang (Dean Fujioka), Riza Hawkeye (Misako Renbutsu), Maes Hughes (Ryuta Sato), and Winry Rockbell (Tsubasa Honda). That’s all well and good, but if I don’t get to see a musclebound Alex Louis Armstrong flexing on every single State Military member he encounters, then why even bother to make this in live action in the first place? I mean, just look at this.

For those of you not in the know, this Fullmetal Alchemist adaptation is based on the manga of the same name by Hiromu Arakawa. The manga, which has inspired two incredibly successful anime series, tells the story of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, whose attempt to bring their mother back from the dead using alchemy yields disastrous results. As a result, Edward loses and arm and a leg, which are replaced by prosthetic metal limbs, and Alphonse loses his entire body, leaving him little more than a soul bound to a suit of armor.

In order to restore their bodies to their original form, the brothers set out to become State Alchemists (a fancy term for “science wizard cops”) and discover the location of the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary artifact that may help them in their quest. In the process, though, they uncover a web of corruption, lies, and murder that threatens the fate of the world itself.

Fullmetal Alchemist opens in Japanese theaters on December 1, 2017.

Image: Warner Bros.

The best anime for newbies to watch

Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@DanCasey).

Quentin Tarantino’s Next Film is All About Charles Manson

It’s time for more Tarantino blood, gore, and character with some new details about his next film. Host Jessica Chobot is joined by Senior Editor Dan Casey, Nerdist News Writer Aliza Pearl, and a very special guest, Head of Development for Collider Video Kristian Harloff on today’s Nerdist News Talks Back! We’ll get to Tarantino in a minute, but first we have to discuss Black Panther and The Tick.

Entertainment Weekly revealed their exclusive Black Panther photos today, showcasing the film’s bright colors, fantastic costumes, high-tech weaponry, and—of course—the actors along for the ride. In addition to Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan, the film’s many women are highlighted: Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, and Danai Gurira. Black Panther is being described as The Godfather of superhero movies, and we’re confident the film will live up to that legacy.

Elsewhere, Amazon’s The Tick has a new trailer, showing off the titular character’s irreverence and invulnerability. The Tick’s schtick (I’m so sorry | editor’s note: no you’re not!) is his incredible endurance and ability to take punishment, as well as his flippant one-liners. The trailer has both of those in spades. He and his sidekick get thrown around quite a bit only to pop back onto their feet and continue the fight. We weren’t super hot on the trailer, but hopefully the show will address some of our concerns.

And finally, Quentin Tarantino’s next movie will focus on the Manson Murders, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Here’s the only issue with that; only like 7 people died as a result of Charles Manson. Seven people die in the first scene of most Tarantino movies. So unless Tarantino takes some historical liberties, this won’t get anywhere near Inglorious Basterds numbers. Mass death or no mass death, we’re still psyched for whatever Tarantino gives us.

You can watch and interact live with Nerdist News Talks Back every weekday at 1:00pm PST on YouTube and Alpha, and catch up with the archives just after the show!

Images: Marvel Studios, Miramax, The Weinstein Company

GAME OF THRONES Re-Throned: “The Broken Man” (S6, E7)

Winter is coming, but not soon enough. So to help pass the time until season seven of Game of Thrones, we’re doing a weekly re-watch of the series, episode-by-episode, with the knowledge of what’s to come and—therefore—more information about the unrevealed rich history of events that took place long before the story began. Be warned, though: that means this series is full of spoilers for every season, even beyond the episode itself. So if you haven’t watched all of the show yet immediately get on that and then come back and join us for Game of Thrones Re-Throned.

Because the next best thing to watching new episodes is re-watching old ones.

——

Season 6, Episode 7: “The Broken Man”

Original Air Date: June 5th, 2016

Director: Mark Mylod

Written by: Bryan Cogman

The Hound‘s surprising* return in this episode feels like it was forever in the making, but he was only gone for a season and a half, having been left for dead by Arya in the season four finale. That’s nothing compared to the shocking reappearance of Benjen Stark in the last episode-he’d been lost since the third episode of season one. Even Edmure Tully’s recent reemergence for the first time since season three’s Red Wedding took longer. Unlike them though the Hound is one of the show’s best, most compelling characters, which is why his absence felt even bigger than it was.

*Not as surprising if you’ve read the books. The novels strongly hint that The Hound was healed by a septon. His return on the show supports that theory, but it’s still unproven.

But why did he come back? To make us happy? Uh, this is Game of Thrones, so no.

He came back because the gods aren’t done with him yet. At least that’s what he was told for the second time in his life by a holy man, this time by Ian McShane’s septon, Brother Ray. And Ray’s larger lessons about the gods might be enough to help Sandor Clegane fulfill whatever purpose they have for him.

The Hound was rescued from near certain death by Ray, and since then had became one of Ray’s followers, a peaceful group of people trying to rebuild in a war torn country. The violent, solitary Hound we knew has changed, though he’s still wary of the world. He knows that talk of peace is nice, but it is also naive because most men are dangerous. Sadly he is proven right when three members of the Brotherhood Without Banners murders everyone in the congregation, including Ray.

But while Ray was wrong about refusing to fight, he taught The Hound two important lessons. One is that it is never too late to atone for past mistakes, and the second is that devotion to the gods has nothing to do with knowing anything about the gods.

“Oh, there’s plenty of pious sons of bitches who think they know the word of god or gods. I don’t. I don’t even know their real names. Maybe it is the Seven. Or maybe it’s the old gods. Or maybe it’s the Lord of Light. Or maybe they’re all the same fucking thing. I don’t know. What matters, I believe, is that there’s something greater than us. And whatever it is, it’s got plans for Sandor Clegane.”

Unlike almost every other religious figures in Westeros, Ray doesn’t claim to know or speak for any of the gods, or god, or whatever power exists. Beric Dondarrion, Melisandre, the other red priestesses, the High Sparrow and the Faith Militant, they all claim to know exactly what god/the gods want from us. That certainty has often had terrible consequences, just as poor Shireen.

Ray just thinks we should be good people because we’re in service of something greater, even if it is unknowable. It’s a message that rings with more authenticity than anything Melisandre has said or done, and the same goes for the High Sparrow (who in this very episode threatens Olenna Tyrell). It especially rings true since we know the Great War with the White Walkers is coming. Being in service to a greater cause has never been more literal or important.

The Hound heard before that god had a greater purpose for him, from Beric Dondarrion after their Trial by Combat. “The Lord of Light isn’t done with you yet,” he said to the Hound. Beric might be more certain about who god is and what he wants, but he agrees with Ray that Sandor Clegane has something important to do. Seeing him still standing after Arya refused to end his life, despite being on her list, makes us think so too.

Whether that means defeating the Mad Queen’s violent beast, his brother The Mountain, in CleganeBowl, or heading north of the Wall to fight against the dead, or something entirely else remains to be seen. But you don’t come back from near certain death and a Trial by Combat against a man who can’t die–just like you don’t come back after a season and a half–without a real purpose.

The episode ends with him grabbing an axe, pulled back into the life he was trying to leave behind, but this time with the lessons he learned from Ray. He can never be the hate-filled man he was, not after finally experiencing some kindness in the world, but he still knows what must be done when the time comes.

The gods aren’t done with Sandor Clegane yet, because the world still needs The Hound.

What role do you think The Hound will play going forward? Howl your thoughts in our comments section below.

Images: HBO